INCLUSIVE RECRUITMENT
CHANCES
“Working with Connor has been brilliant,” Nelberg explains. “We don’t think of Connor as a prison leaver, he’s just a regular person with a tough past.” Both parties have benefitted. “Connor helped to challenge the mindset of the belligerent builders we had become, and we helped him to build a career and a better life,” Nelberg reveals. As with any employment relationship, issues can and do arise. What’s required is working through them together in a mature and mutually respectful manner. Understanding trauma “Overcoming challenges brings great rewards and respect from both sides,” Nelberg says. “We have learnt a lot about how our brains work, listening to audio books such as The Chimp Paradox by Steve Peters and The Myth of Normal: Trauma, Illness, and Healing in a Toxic Culture by Gabor Maté. “We’ve wanted to understand how trauma responses reprogramme our brains and how our brains pull us back to what they feel comfortable with even if that’s not good for our new situation.” Nelberg wanted to help Gridley to learn while also growing as an employer. “We’ve taught him what we know about construction. There is mutual respect, but also, everything is fragile as either side could tear things down due to our mindset or chimp behaviour as we call it.” Lessons learnt Nelberg says he and his team have learnt a lot from Gridley. “There hasn’t been any judgment from us. In retrospect, thinking about some of the trauma and difficult situations Connor’s gone through, I hope this job has been key in helping him to move to the next level personally. “Engaging with informative resources like books and podcasts, and communicating with each other helps us to be better employers and employees.
Connor Gridley is hard at work
most about construction is that every day brings different challenges to overcome.” Gridley completed his Level 2 Carpentry apprenticeship in 2024 and plans to pursue a site management apprenticeship next. The experience of hiring Gridley and, more generally, taking on apprentices has been important for Nelberg who is always striving to be a better employer. “We have a very different business these days as we have opened our minds and we are better equipped to see people differently,” Nelberg explains. “We now understand that we need to assess everyone and work out how we can help them to upskill and be part of our team. “It took a lot of change and for us to realise that we had become belligerent and set in our ways, and we really needed to upskill ourselves and transform our business. We have all changed and are continuing to change so we can rise to new challenges and inspire everyone in our teams.” Grateful for the opportunity, Gridley is eager for bosses elsewhere to follow the example Nelberg has set. “I hope other employers can see that if you give people a chance, they are willing to work hard and that can be rewarding for everyone.”
Even agreeing to this interview with Master Builder has made us think about what we have done so far and how we could improve our processes and mindset. “It’s all about having an open mind and treating everyone as a human being. It doesn’t matter where you are from, what your ability is or who you are, we can build respect together and help each other.” The two have helped each other. Nelberg has a committed employee and Gridley has a satisfying career. “Working with Nik has changed my life,” Gridley says. “He has helped me to discover something that I enjoy doing, and he has given me opportunities to keep progressing. And the thing that I enjoy
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